I felt so happy and proud to see this almost 6 ft ball of energy exploding like a ball of fire on the grounds of an Australian cricket field. I am not much of a cricket fan (and have followed even less after acquiring a cricket fanatic as a husband)..but watching Jhulan Goswami lead India to a win against Australia at the ICC WWC was a different ball-game altogether (pun intended!!). I wondered why we do not get to read much about these 11 courageous and brave women who have challenged and won against chauvinism, and have made their place in the face of such tremendous apathy and discouragement. Since Jhulan and I come from the same state, I have read about her struggle, getting up everyday at 4 am, a 3 hr train ride to Kolkata and then back home, fighting grinding poverty-all for the love of the game. And this, in the face of tremendous ridicule from the local boys who refused to let her bat, which is why she became a bowler.
I am sure all the other 10 girls in the team have stories to tell which are pretty similar in their undercurrents..it's not easy being a sportswoman in India, least of all a cricketer. But why doesn't the mainstream media ever highlight such stories? Why do I have to read a paper guestedited by Kareena Kapoor on 8th March? Is India so short of worthy women that we have to fall back on Bollywood once more? Even on 8th March it's Bolly to our rescue? It shames me to think about the level of shallowness that we have all been falling into..the collective stupor..where we dont even recognise real heroes..